Something New

I have been busy in the late night hours pulling all fabrics loud and bright and some fabrics soft and sweet.

I decided on some HST's in the shape of this quilt. And have since been moving them up and down, round and round all over my design board. Such fun I have been having looking for that 'right' placement! Do you have that moment when you know it's just right?!!! I love that aha moment. When all the colours seem in harmony to your eyes. It's interesting how a colour can look so wrong in one placement and so right in another.

Take this block for instance - many times I tried the lighter Chicopee print as an 'inner' circle part of a block - but nooooo, that was all wrong. Finally I tried it as the 'outer' background of this block - and yay, soooo right! Crazy but true!!!

Hello strawberries. Hello mushrooms.

And HELLO my-all-time-favourite-stick-it-in-every-quilt Chicopee print. I fear using you all up. Every time I talk about this print I have to go to Etsy and order more.

Up next - actually sewing some of these together. Have a good week all!

~Lisa

Black and White and Red all Over

What is black and white and red all over??? (Or should I say 'read' all over). The newspaper! Hahaha - this is the first joke I remember telling and actually 'GETTING' as a child!

Hello pretty 

And on to other news...

Yay me!!! The K Quilt is complete - isn't that just the best feeling??!!! I began this quilt in February. It is for a friend's birthday at the end of this month. I have previously shared my creative process here and a progress report about this quilt here. This quilt makes me happy (I seriously CANNOT stop touching it) because I have learned so much from it.

Favourite block

This quilt has taught me more about myself as a quilter than any other quilt!
Here are some of the things I have learned while making this quilt:

1. That I can push my creative process until I am in love with what I see, I really need to FEEL what I see on my design wall.

2. That the *CLICK* will come - I will eventually create a design that speaks to me. 

These first two points are really important for me - I noticed that as I went through the design process on this quilt and then the next quilt I designed (this is new for me, as I have always followed patterns before) each time there was a period of fret and worry like - 'OMGOODNESS I have ruined all this fabric and don't like what I see' - and when I continue and really challenge myself, I have been able to realize a design that I truly love.

3. That the following quote (that I discovered while trying to sew very precise seams on this quilt) gives me confidence as a quilter - "It does not have to be correct the first time you sew it, only the last time" (Sally Collins). RIGHT??!!! So true! Hello seam ripper! 

And even better - for some reason this quote makes me feel less frustrated (as in 'OMG I made a mistake') when I am changing a seam and more like - I am choosing to improve upon my quilt. Which I see as a good thing!

4. How to fix skipped stitches - thank you so much for the suggestions ladies - your help really did help!

5. That I have finally perfected my 'Perfect for Me' binding. I am super duper happy about this. I have been documenting my binding technique on paper for quite a few quilts now. When I liked how a certain aspect of my binding turned out, I make a note of it and when I didn't like the way something turned out, I made a note of what to try next time. I was really searching for a way to make my binding look pretty to me each and every time - I wanted a PREDICTABLE sequence, so that I can follow the steps and get the same results for every quilt. Very demanding, I know haha!

I say 'perfect for me' binding because I had a very specific set of criteria - I like a skinny binding (2.25 in strips) and I really do like the look of machine sewn binding AND true to my 'organized, everything must be the same' kind of self - I wanted BOTH sides of the binding to be sewn so it looks the same. Phew! I did take pics of my process and have my notes - tutorial to come!!! My first!!!

So not only is this quilt for a special to me friend - it is also a very special to me quilt, for teaching me so much about the art that I love. Kind of fitting I think!!!

Happy Friday all! Linking up with 'Finish it up Friday' at Crazy Mom Quilts and 'Let's get Acquainted' Monday link up party hosted by Charm About You.

~Lisa

Progress

Aaaahhhhhh...the sweet, sweet sound of progress. Back at the K quilt.

Though, I have been having some troubles with skipped stitches. It's a first for me. I have fiddled and I have faddled and the skips will go away for awhile and then reappear. Have you had this problem? Any suggestions? A magical cure? Please share your spell! I would love some help.

Happy weekend all.

~Lisa

Joining in on the Fun! Bloggers Quilt Festival Entry #2

And for my second offering to the Blogger's Quilt Festival:

My Night of Hope Heart Quilt

This quilt was made with much love and donated to the Night of Hope, an organization which raises money for Breast Cancer research. My mom and I both volunteer for the Night of Hope, in memory of my mom's youngest sister (and my beloved auntie) who died of breast cancer when she was only 42.

  

NOH Heart Quilt

Finished Quilt Size: 48 x 60

Best Category: Throw Quilt

Quilted by: Me

Thanks for stopping by and having a looky at my entry. Best of luck to all the quilters entered in the festival. Why don't you pop on over to Amy's Creative Side and see what's cooking!!!

 ~Lisa

K Quilt Revisited

Alas, it is time to return to the coveted K Quilt. I shared my creative process here when originally planning this quilt. I packed the K Quilt up into numbered baggies when I needed my design wall to plan and complete my Night of Hope Quilt. The K Quilt is for a friend's B-day at the end of June - so it is not a finish I need to rush. I can just pull out a  little baggie anytime I feel the need and sew up one of these:

3 down, 9 to go. Been having fun with it. I sure am looking forward to seeing it all stitched together. I decided on a small, evenly laid out polka dot for the corners of each block. Gives the quilt a nice overall cohesive look.

Happy sewing all. Hope you each have a wonderful week. I have some new life plans on the horizon and a girls trip coming up next week, so life is pretty exciting around here! Linking up with the 'Let's Get Acquainted' party hosted by Kirsten at Gemini Stitches.


~Lisa

Heart Quilt Happiness

Some of you may recall me previously mentioning the Night of Hope, a gala evening held to raise money for Breast Cancer research. This event is held locally in the lower mainland of British Columbia and my mom volunteers her time throughout the year to organize the silent auction portion of the event. We both volunteer on the evening of and help with the running of the silent auction. This year I decided to also donate a quilt for auction. I have been working on this quilt for awhile now and finally finished her (180 HST's later) just in time for the auction last night.

48 x 60 lap quilt

I am pleased to tell you that she was purchased and went home to live with a new family. I am thrilled that the lady who purchased her was thrilled! It felt good to see it go walking off in the arms of someone who was smiling with the delight of their new (I want to say family member here...) quilt.

Please tell me I am not the only one who does this - becomes so familiar with their quilt (after all the cutting, sewing, ironing, stacking, smelling, patting, wrangling, gazing, squishing etc etc) that you feel it is sincerely a part of you, or at least a part of your family. I often find it hard to part with my quilts, even though I made them for the particular person (or in this case reason) they are going to and not because I actually want to keep them, but just because they are SUCH a part of me and I will miss them. Ok, sounds crazy - but is true.

I quilted this one with a design I had originally drafted when I was working on this quilt. I divided it visually into four sections and quilted it as you see in the picture below (this pic depicts only 2 sections/or the top half of the quilt) - only with many, many more lines of quilting, about an inch or so apart. I do so like the look of a densely quilted quilt - so very textured. Let me tell you though - this was some serious quilt wrangling with the all the turns - each quadrant took me 2.5 hours to quilt. Phew!!! But I absolutely love the outcome, so worth it every time.

And of course, added a label. I love these labels - it feels much better to send my quilts out into the world with my name on them. It felt wrong to me, when I sent them out without my name, like someone/somewhere might want to know one day where this came from.

Polka dots for the backing just fit naturally with this quilt. Who doesn't love a good polka dot??!!!

And lastly, my fave heart. Interesting that in this quilt my favourite block is the colour of Breast Cancer awareness - very fitting I think.

I hope you each have a happy weekend. On to another project for me,  I love the moment of finish up one and start up/planning something new. Somehow so satisfying and exciting all rolled up in one. Linking up with 'Finish it up Friday' over at Crazy Mom Quilts and 'Let's get Acquainted' linky party hosted by Nat at Made in Home -  going to go check out what everyone else has been up to!

~Lisa

Take Two

Oh, what a wonderful weekend. First I cut squares...

Then I drew lines and pinned...

Stacked some nice neat piles of fabric sandwiches and sewed each one...twice

Then I chopped them in half (much fun!!!)

 And yay me - now to the design wall for some HST play.

I have had to put this quilt aside for the time being, as it is intended for a birthday in June and the above lovely must come to fruition by the end of March. This new lovely is my 'Take Two' Night of Hope quilt, as the first one was not coming together as I hoped it would. I was not entirely happy with the points and because it is such a special quilt, I really wanted to be proud of its construction. I have decided to scrap the pattern altogether and go free style with the above HST's, as I have really enjoyed this type of design lately. I may return to the original eventually and finish it up as a keeper for me.

Wishing you all a wonderful week! Looking forward to weeks end as I am heading to Vegas Friday eve. YAY!

Linking up with Anything Goes Quilt and Sew at Stitch by Stitch and Let's Get Acquainted Monday Link up Party Hosted by Owen's Olivia.


 ~Lisa

Playing Around

I wanted to make a red, white, grey and black quilt for someone who loves red. This quilt included many many many HST's. I had an idea and I drew it out...

Then I made HST's and HST's and more HST's. I don't mind the repetitiveness of this activity as it is systematic and organized and produces a lovely pile of pretty little squares when complete. As I may have mentioned before, this type of activity fits well with my personality!

I used many different gorgeous print fabrics and did not plan for which went together. I was really trying to let myself go for the scrappiness of it all (Ha ha, I say now in retrospect).

I was super duper excited to begin playing with my squares. I popped them up onto my design wall into the pattern from my sketch and went 'ohhhhhh'. I went 'ohhhhhh', not in a good way. Boring. Messy - definitely not organized. I felt like my eyes had no where to rest. Man o man - I really have a hard time with scrappy. Why is it that I LOVE and ADORE so many scrappy quilts out there - yet I cannot feel it when it's mine??!!! I took it down so fast I actually did not even think to take a picture to share!

I did enjoy the play the ensued though. It's amazing how many designs these HST's can be rearranged into. I had no idea! I played and I played...

And I played...

I liked this diamond one, but felt it still did not offer enough rest for my eyes. I realized here, during this stage, that I liked the diamonds - especially with the backgrounds of each diamond using the same fabrics. I was getting somewhere.

Go bigger. I decided that bigger might help with the busyness of all the different patterns in the fabrics. I liked these new, bigger diamonds a lot.

Then I put my 2 ideas together, bigger diamonds - with fabrics in the center and backgrounds that match and YES! This makes my eyes and heart happy. This is the design I am going with. It has meant there has been some (MUCH!) stitch ripping and re-sewing to make enough HST's with the same fabrics for each block, but it is by far worth it as I see the design grow and I know it is the 'right' one.

I love how the design process is dynamic and flowing. It is interesting to me to see what I start with and what I end up with. I love that I can keep going when something doesn't please my eye - until I find just the design that does. These steps in the design of this quilt have been a great learning process for me. Now that I am settled on the design, I have begun to think about the quilting - always my fave part!


Hope you are all having a fabulous week in sewing and such! Linking up with Work in Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

~Lisa